This invention relates to the field of driving controls for windshield wipers. A large variety of prior art windshield wiper controllers are available for use in operating motor vehicles throughout a wide range of inclement weather conditions. These controllers typically have manually actuated switches for selection of 2 or 3 different wiping speeds, as well as a variably timed intermittent mode. Variable wiping patterns are also available.
One of the problems with windshield wipers arises from the fact that they may require frequent operator adjustment with changing precipitation conditions and changing vehicle speeds often times encountered on the highway. For this reason there has been a great deal of interest in controllers equipped with rain sensors and able to effect automatic adjustment of the wiping operation based upon measured precipitation. Here again there is a great diversity of available equipment. For instance there are adaptive, microprocessor controlled systems, as taught in Schierbeek et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,374 and in Teder U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,877. Another system, disclosed in Graham U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,904 features a touch control allowing an operator to set a delay time by means of two consecutive touches.
While recent developments have done much to address the variability of weather conditions, their configurations are fixed by judgments made by design engineers. However, each human operator is unique and has specific needs depending upon his or her eyesight, reaction time and driving style. Thus an automatic control system, even though adaptive, may achieve theoretically "ideal" performance and yet not be ideal in the mind of the driver who is putting money and life on the line. As a consequence, drivers still are faced with frequent adjustment of their windshield wiper controls at the very time when their attention is required elsewhere.
It is therefore seen that there is a need for an improved windshield wiper control system which may be adjusted to meet the particular requirements of a specific driver and which, upon adjustment, requires little or no further adjusting. It is an object of this invention to fulfill that need.